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Graham Phantom Anti-Skate. Is it effective at all?

I've had my Phantom Supreme over a year now, and for the most part it's been a pleasure. Beautiful build & sound; awesome VTA and azimuth adjustments. My main hangup had been the headshell; getting a Koetsu to sit flat on the 10" wand seemed impossible because the correct overhang pushed it all the way to the back, behind the main headshell points of contact. Finally I just used 2 plastic washers as shims to get a nice flat mount.

Now my main concern is the anti-skate. I'm not sure if all Phantoms are this way or if it's an issue with my unit. I can't seem to get an effective amount of anti-skate. My preferred method for adjusting anti-skate is to drop the needle in some dead-wax before the label (NOT into a lead-out groove) and adjust so that the stylus creeps *slowly* inwards. With my Graham, I cannot achieve that...it always moves quickly inwards no matter how far out I set the weight. Even physically pushing down on the weight doesn't seem to have much effect in swinging the arm. To me, this seems like the mechanism is not effective, as if I'm running without any compensation. This is very unlike my experiences with a Fidelity Research FR64fx (weight and fishing line) and Clearaudio Magnify (magnetic) -- both have a very noticeably effective anti-skate mechanism, which I can easily dial-in as described above. In fact I just setup a Magnify...it was great!

On my Graham, the pulley & rope system seems to be correctly in place. But without a 2nd until to examine, I can't determine whether this is normal. Could other owners/users of Graham please comment on their experiences with its anti-skate? The situation is OK for now -- I burn hours on my good cartridges very slowly and sparingly -- but I'd rather not have my nice cartridge seeing asymmetric wear over the long-run.

-- Mike
128x128mulveling
syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 

It time for Syntax to stop spreading around misinformation with regard to Graham arms.

Honey, I had Graham Arms before you even did know how to spell that name correctly .... Last week there was the High End Show in Germany and I saw these Arms and I even stacked them to see what was going on.
And let's remember that your so called "knowledge" is based on nothing. It was me who told you that your 10" Arm Alignment with your Clearaudio table was wrong. Before you got that information you told everyone how great that Performance is.
Maybe you have different wands, who knows, Fact is, there are others out there, even today (or until last week).
rockitman's avatar
rockitman
417 posts
 
well I have two empty supreme arm wands...10" and 12". They don't line up...it's not even close angle wise. Perhaps you should pull your head out of your arse and stop talking about your first hand experience with old Graham tonearms. It is 2014...your claims that the 12" angle is the same as the 10" head shell angle is patently false. Your supposed facts are sheet.
dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
Syntax and Rockitman,

Thanks for sharing your experiences. It seems that some Graham armwands may be angled differently than others. That is useful information... caveat emptor.

That said, having these different experiences hardly justifies personal invective. As you're posting publically I presume you're hoping to sway opinions. Indulging in insults will do that, but perhaps not in your favor. Please stop.
rockitman's avatar
rockitman
417 posts
 
Yes, I wish I could edit the thread. I agree, insults accomplish nothing. There is no hit and miss regarding these arm wands. The older arm wands with the elliptical headshell could very well be the same angle wise on the 10 & 12's. I have no experience with them. The newer "Supreme" arm wands do not. I should know...I have 3-10" and 2-12" supreme wands. Syntax has none.
mulveling's avatar
mulveling OP
1,907 posts
 
Thanks to all who have contributed information thus far. I'm sorry things got a
little heated in a particular subthread-- to those participants, I respect both of
you and appreciate the posts/contributions you've each made to the various
online audio forums.

I do have a Supreme II model, so hopefully my alignment from the headshell jig
is not too far off -- though there is some wiggle room on that jig, which
accounts for a margin of error on its own. A Mint protractor is looking pretty
good right about now...
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